Girolami controls Sunday TCR World Tour race at The Bend

The Hyundai driver set up his victory with a brilliant move at the first corner.

Starting from the outside of the front row, Girolami’s launch wasn’t brilliant, polesitter Aurelien Comte initially gapping Girolami on the run to turn 1.

Girolami then recovered with a late-braking move around the outside to claim a lead he would hold across the 13-lap journey.

At times he was more than five seconds clear of the chasing pack, although a conservative effort in the closing laps saw the final margin come down to just under 1.5 seconds.

Rounding out the podium was Goat Racing pair Esteban Guerrieri and Ignacio Montenegro, the Honda drivers both passing Comte at the end of the second lap/start of the third.

Comte shadowed Montenegro in fourth, while Josh Buchan led the Aussie charge with a fine fifth in his Hyundai.

Buchan needed to fend off series leader Yann Ehrlacher, just four-tenths separating the pair at the finish, while Ehrlacher’s Link & Co teammate Thed Bjork was seventh.

There was a third Link & Co in eighth, Qinghua Ma at times fighting hard to keep Hyundai’s Mikel Azcona at bay.

Azcona eventually fell back into the clutches of teammate and Race 1 winner Norbert Michelisz, who grabbed ninth place at turn 1 on the last lap.

Ryan McMillan was the second-best placed TCR Australia runner behind Buchan in 12th ahead of Zac Soutar and Jordan Cox.

The TCR World Tour season continues at Inje Speedium in Korea on October 17-19.

Results: FIA Kumho TCR World Tour AirTouch 500 at The Bend, Race 2